the Informer

Adam Manison

Back-to-back games away from West Hartford handed the men’s basketball ’11-’12 season start a difficult challenge, against difficult opponents and two losses.

Most recently on Saturday, Hartford traveled down to the site of the recent child abuse scandal, Penn State, where they lost to the Nittany Lions, 70-55, at the Bryce Jordan Center in front of 4,152 fans in attendance.

The Hawks scoring was led by freshman guard Wes Cole who shot 4-11 from downton for 12 points, followed by senior forward Genesis Maciel and freshman Mark Nwakamma who scored eight points each.

Hartford’s rebounding and assists were led by senior guard Clayton Brothers who contributed seven and four, respectively.

Hartford kept up with Penn St. in the game’s early runnings with a 32-22 first half score headed into intermission, despite the Hawks having committed 15 turnovers that allowed for 12 Nitanny Lion points.

Shooting a game best 47.1 percent from the floor on the offensive end in the starting half, the Hawks defense allowed for close pursuit by holding the Nittany Lions to 28.1 percent from the floor.

However a less stellar 40.7 Hawk shot percentage, 11 more committed turnovers and an improved 43.8 Nittany Lion shot percentage in the second half contributed to Hartford’s close pursuit loss.

40 Penn St. rebounds and 10-23 Nittany Lion shooting from beyond the arc for the game drowned Hartford’s defense and fared better than the Hawks’ 34 rebounds and 8-26 3-point game shooting of their own.

Penn State’s guard Trey Lewis led all scorers with 17 and was backed by fellow guard Tim Fraizer who added 16.

On Friday, the day prior, head coach John Gallagher began his second year at the helm of the Hawks in the Connecticut 6 Classic for the second year in a row when Hartford took on Sacred Heart at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Falling behind early, the Hawks battled back from being down 14 points twice but were not able to overcome poor offense in their 70-55 season opening loss.

Hartford’s Yolonzo Moore II knocked in five FG on 12 shots, including two three pointers, to lead the Hawks scoring.

Sacred Heart’s gigantic Justin Swidowski converted seven FG on his 10 shits, in addition to 4 FT, to lead his team in scoring.

Hartford’s 18-61 shooting for the game along with 43 rebounds countered the Hawks’ resilient efforts. In comparisson, Sacred Heart shot 22-60 while nabbing 53 rebounds.

Although not a winning start to their overall record, Hartford will have from Nov. 12 through Nov. 16 off before their third season and first home game, which will be against Mount St. Mary’s in the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion at 6 p.m.